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(#1) Professor McGonagall Shows Up 30 Years Too Early
In Potter-lore, it’s well established that Professor McGonagall was born in 1935, and she took a job at Hogwarts in 1956 after working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic for two years. Even though Rowling wrote the literal book on McGonagall, she changed the professor’s timeline and created a major plot hole in the lore.
Retconning McGonagall's timeline doesn’t do anything for the narrative of Crimes of Grindelwald, but it does make her an Easter egg for a particular group of fans who aren’t concerned about things like plot or the well-established timeline of the Harry Potter films.
That said, some fans are doing mental gymnastics to help the character’s appearance make sense. According to this group, Minerva McGonagall's grandmother was also named Minerva, so the character in the film could be the grandmother rather than the character fans know.
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(#2) Credence Can’t Be Dumbledore’s Brother
In the final moments of Crimes of Grindelwald it’s revealed Credence Barebone is actually Aurelius Dumbledore - Albus Dumbledore’s long-lost brother. That’s a huge twist, but it creates a problem with the canon. According to Rowling, Credence was 18 in 1927, when means he was born in 1909. That doesn’t jive with Dumbledore’s backstory.
According to series canon, Dumbledore’s father Percival was incarcerated in Azkaban after attacking a group of muggles who were assaulting his daughter. He died in prison in 1890. His wife, Kendra Dumbledore, died nine years later. Grindelwald could be lying to Credence, but it’s safe to assume he’s not.
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(#3) Dumbledore Never Teaches Defense Against The Dark Arts In The Books
As far as plot holes go this isn’t Earth-shattering, but it’s still a weird mix up of facts. In Crimes of Grindelwald Dumbledore teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts. While he looks like a fun teacher, it’s well established that Dumbledore spent his time at Hogwarts teaching Transfiguration (the art of changing the form and appearance of an object or a person) before becoming headmaster.
According to Half-Blood Prince, Galatea Merrythought taught Defense of the Dark Arts for at least 50 years prior to Tom Riddle graduating from Hogwarts in 1945. So for all intents and purposes she should be teaching DODA in Crimes of Grindelwald and not Dumbledore. If you have a splitting headache right now you’re not alone.
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(#4) Rodolphus LeStrange Shouldn’t Exist
In the finale of Crimes of Grindelwald, Leta LeStrange dies at the hand of the dark wizard baddie which puts an end to her family line. The problem this creates is there’s now no one to sire Rodolphous LeStrange.
The only reason Rodolphous is important is he marries Bellatrix Black, giving the wizarding world its most intense villain with the coolest name. Unless Leta’s death was fake, another LeStrange (hopefully also named Corvus) needs to show up ASAP to make any sense of this.
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(#5) Harry Potter Should Have Developed An Obscurus
Obscurials are hard to understand, but according to the Fantastic Beasts films obscuruses are parasites that form on a young wizards or witches as the result of their magic being suppressed through psychological or physical abuse. Usually, obscurials rarely live beyond their childhood and if they actually gain control of their powers it can be trouble for everyone.
That’s all well and good, but why isn’t Harry Potter an obscurial? According to Rowling, Potter didn’t develop the parasite while living with the Dursleys because “Even when he was scolded for 'making things happen,' he didn't make any attempt to suppress his true nature, nor did he ever imagine that he had the power to do so.”
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(#6) Nagini Is A Witch With A Blood Curse, Not A Snake
After Voldemort returns in the original Harry Potter series he’s never seen without his pet snake/horcrux Nagini. Throughout the books there’s no clue that suggests Nagini was once a beautiful witch with a blood curse that made her turn into a snake every night until she finally slithered into full-time snake status. There are 607 pages in Deathly Hallows, so you’d think JK Rowling could have slipped that information in there.
Nagini beginning her life as a woman recontextualizes the entire Harry Potter series. Not only is Neville essentially murdering a woman when he kills Nagini, but the fact that Voldemort has to “milk” the snake in order to stay alive before regaining his full form is rather dark.
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(#7) Tina Goldstein Should Be Master Of The Elder Wand
Even muggles know whoever defeats the wizard who holds the Elder Wand becomes the wand’s new owner. This rule is established in Half-Blood Prince when Malfoy disarms Dumbledore, who got the wand the same way after defeating Grindelwald.
That’s all great, but Crimes of Grindelwald creates a major hole in this narrative. During the film’s finale in the LeStrange crypt, Tina Goldstein defeats and disarms Grindelwald, which should make her master of the wand - only that doesn’t happen.
Maybe JK Rowling is planning a big switcheroo for one of the later films, but at the time of Grindelwald’s release it looks like she forgot her own mythos.
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(#8) Obliviation Used To Remove All Memories, Not Just Bad Ones
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Gilderoy Lockhart reveals he obliviates witches and wizards and steals their stories for his books. By doing so he removes all their memories, leaving them completely blank. In Crimes of Grindelwald it’s revealed Jacob Kowalski and the rest of New York City have been obliviated - but they’re only missing their bad memories.
Kowalski says he remembers most of the first movie because he had such a good time with Newt. It feels like Rowling just wanted to keep the central crew from the first film together, because a memory wipe that only works on bad memories is one of the worst deus ex machinas in the history of film.
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(#9) Wizards Aren’t Allowed To Apparate Into Hogwarts
In Half-Blood Prince wizards aren’t allowed to apparate into or out of Hogwarts. However, in Crimes of Grindelwald a group of aurors pop right into Dumbledore’s office for a chat.
It’s a small rule to break, but it really messes with the canon of the series. Why not just have the aurors arrive by broom?
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(#10) Dumbledore’s Style Doesn’t Fit His Character
One of the best things about the Fantastic Beasts series is it gives fans a chance to see their favorite professors’ younger selves. As cool as it is to see a young, handsome Dumbledore, it’s weird to see him in a suit.
Even in his flashbacks Dumbledore never wore anything that remotely resembled “normal” fashion. He’s always been a plush robe and pillbox hat kind of wizard. So why is he wearing a suit in Crimes of Grindelwald?
Fashions change, and Dumbledore can wear whatever he wants to wear, it’s just odd to see him dressed in such a muted look. Does Jude Law look dashing in a three piece suit? Of course he does. Does his smart fashion sense gel with the character he’s portraying? Not in the least.
Expect to see Law add flourishes of gauzy color into his wardrobe throughout the next three films in the series until he’s in full-on billowy robe territory.
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(#11) The Mirror Of Erised Shows Your Deepest Secrets, Not Your Past
Late in the film, Dumbledore looks into the Mirror of Erised and sees a memory of his younger self and a young Grindelwald making a bloodpact to never fight one another. Then he sees the adult version of his nemesis and he’s shaken to his core.
Okay, but that’s not what the mirror does. In Sorcerer’s Stone Dumbledore plainly states the mirror shows whomever looks into it their deepest desire, not their memories and then a look at the present version of a person from said memory.
This restructuring of the mirror’s function is specifically for narrative purposes, and it doesn’t really change anything for the rest of the series, but it is a weird choice to make - especially when pensieves exist in this universe.
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(#12) Dumbledore’s Blood Pact With Grindelwald Wrecks A Major ‘Deathly Hallows’ Plot Point
In Deathly Hallows it’s plainly stated Dumbledore and Grindelwald ended their relationship after a three-way duel that included Aberforth. Somehow Albus and Aberforth’s sister got involved, they killed her, and everyone went their separate ways. It’s a depressing origin story for Albus Dumbledore, but it’s simple.
However that all changes in Crimes of Grindelwald when the good wizard reveals he has a blood pact with the evil wizard ensuring the two will never fight. The blood pact adds a new, convoluted wrinkle to the story, but at least it gives the characters something to talk about for the next three movies.
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(#13) Nicolas Flamel Could Have Stopped Voldemort
Nicolas Flamel is the worst. Not because he’s a baddie or anything, but because he’s useless and he does nothing with his wild powers. Shortly after meeting Flamel, he reveals he has a crystal ball that allows him to see into the future.
With one look, Flamel sees everyone he knows getting merked at the hands of Grindelwald. If he has a device that allows him to see an accurate version of the future, why not use it to look ahead and weed out an unstoppable evil? Or the death of a young boy’s parents? Sure, we wouldn’t have the adventures of a young Harry, but the kid would be happy living life with his parents.
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